Windows 8 discussion (8.1 Update coming April 8)

Just wanted to let folks know that $15 upgrade offer from Microsoft at http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com is now live. The offer is available in selected countries if you purchase(d) a Windows PC between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. You can register today, and when Windows 8 is available for purchase, you'll receive an email.

MS couldn't get me to upgrade from Win 7 if they paid me $15. I'm generally a huge fan of theirs but I'm going to hold off on upgrading my desktop until they release a desktop OS upgrade. I have two Win 8 lab boxes and all Metro does is get in my way of doing work.

...and lol @ Office 2013 Preview Metro support. Not only does it run in desktop mode, but the giant mail icon in Metro doesn't link to Outlook.

As far as the Windows Store goes, there's quite a bunch of pretty decent apps, and they're already available for free. I hope this is a side effect of the pre-GA period, where everyone tries to get a bunch of reviews. Because otherwise, people would be undercutting themselves already before Windows 8 is officially on the market. What's really mean for instance is that Microsoft themselves have a pretty nice painting app on the store, and it's free. That's pretty much a bummer for anyone writing their own, because the bar's already high.

Also, you appear to be able to make more than one appname reservation. From what I remember, only one reservation was advertised running up to opening the store for everyone, I already have two. Not sure what the limit is, but I wouldn't be surprised if some people start holding cool names at ransom. Luckily, I managed to pick a nice one for one of my apps, which was surprisingly not reserved, considering it's simplicity and meaning (at least I'd figure calling an image effects application "pixels" would be nice).

Oh no they do, I just had to set it up twice, once for the Start Menu copy of Chrome and a second time for the desktop version. Syncing means it's not a big deal for me, but other users might not use syncing...

I don't understand why the concept of bookmarks suddenly needs to be abandoned in Metro... It pisses me off Metro IE does it too and you can't pin sites without making another tile on the Start screen. Waiting to see how Firefox will screw it up.

I'm fine with making about:tabs the default with smart selections from your history. I use that a lot actually. But I don't want an addon to use bookmarks as a "save for later" kind of thing.

Their developer website is mean. Altho I haven't tried, their site suggests that there may not be a limit to app name reservations. I have currently three reservations going. I wouldn't be surprised if people are squatting cool/simple names.

I'm considering getting a Surface tablet, but there is something that bothers me a little: Microsoft is not allowing developers to compile desktop applications on ARM, are they? So, if that is the case, then the platform is far less flexible than they claim it is, with the desktop functioning only as a file explorer and little more. We need desktop applications on ARM, too.

The availability of the Windows desktop is an important part of WOA. The desktop offers you a familiar place to interact with PCs, particularly files, storage, and networking, as well as a range of peripherals. You can use Windows Explorer, for example, to connect to external storage devices, transfer and manage files from a network share, or use multiple displays, and do all of this with or without an attached keyboard and mouse—your choice. This is all familiar, fast, efficient, and useful. You’ll have access to a deep array of control panel settings to customize and access a finer-grained level of control over your system, should you want to. And if you’ve used the Developer Preview with a touch-capable PC, you know that the desktop user-interface has been refined for touch interaction with improved user-interface affordances.

At the same time, WOA (as with Windows 8) is designed so that customers focused on Metro style apps don’t need to spend time in the desktop. Availability of the desktop incurs no runtime overhead. It is just there should you want or need it. Below, we will describe the technology behind the scenes that goes into making sure that the availability of the desktop does not compromise system security, reliability over time, performance, or power consumption of a WOA PC. To those of you who’ve tried out the Developer Preview, you’ll notice that the user experience has continued to evolve and you will see a broad set of improvements in the upcoming Consumer Preview.

Some have suggested we might remove the desktop from WOA in an effort to be pure, to break from the past, or to be more simplistic or expeditious in our approach. To us, giving up something useful that has little cost to customers was a compromise that we didn’t want to see in the evolution of PCs. The presence of different models is part of every platform. Whether it is to support a transition to a future programming model (such as including a virtualization or emulation solution if feasible), to support different programming models on one platform (native and web-based applications when both are popular), or to support different ways of working (command shell or GUI for different scenarios), the presence of multiple models represents a flexible solution that provides a true no-compromise experience on any platform.

Perhaps, but that's the only way they could get Office (well, a subset of Office) on it in time. MS feels that's the draw for WinRT as otherwise it would basically be a new platform where the only familiarity is a failed phone OS with a shitty ecosystem.

So yeah, I don't think it's that smart either, but that's their reasoning.

Has anyone with Razer Synapse peripherals installed this cumulative update? On RTM (but not on RP) Synapse doesn't work at all. I am hoping this update might make it function and if so I can finally upgrade to RTM (again!).

There should be. For some reason, though, Microsoft hasn't recoded/reorganized every nook and cranny of Windows for the "new" interface just yet. A major oversight if the "new" interface is to become the norm in the future.

There should be. For some reason, though, Microsoft hasn't recoded/reorganized every nook and cranny of Windows for the "new" interface just yet. A major oversight if the "new" interface is to become the norm in the future.

I'm fairly sure that "some reason" is simply time. That's a lot to migrate. Hell, parts of Windows 7 are using fundamentally the same dialogs as Windows 2000, because no one could be bothered to "Windows 7ify" them.

So I see that if you are running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, that you need to re-install all software to convert to Windows 8 but if you are running Windows 7 Home or Home Premium, things transfer just fine.

Why is this?

This seems like a major hassle to upgrade, especially if some software will need to be uninstalled or deactivated to preserve the activation count on the computer to re-install (i.e., the risk of capping out on installs).

Do we really need to reinstall everything or is this just risk averse guidance?

Has anyone seen any sign of the Media Center add on yet? Pricing, availability?

I'm waiting for this myself. I'd like to hear how well it works with cable card tuners (relative to Win7 with a HD HomeRun Prime) before deciding which PCs in the house to upgrade.

I'm waiting on that, too. Planning to upgrade my main machine shortly after the public release, but I need Media Center to be able to upgrade (it's also my only DVR box, so I can't upgrade until I know I'll be able to keep that functionality).

Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.

Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets. And if you want, you can add Windows Media Center for free through the “add features” option within Windows 8 Pro after your upgrade.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

What's concerning is that it's been two months since RTM and it's a little over a week before general availability, and no one's even seen what they're doing with Media Center. Just vague promises that it'll be there; no statement on new or removed functionality at all.